Content Creators Talk About #ForkGoogle and Leaving Centralized Platforms Behind Eventually

Occupy the Internet
20.03.2020

Responding to the growing concerns about the instances of crypto-content being taken down on YouTube, Google Play, and other centralized services, the crypto-community launched the #ForkGoogle initiative. The initiative is aimed to inform and educate people and companies about the need to shift from the centralized infrastructure and build decentralized alternatives to the dominant centralized platforms of today.

Max Bit discussed these matters with the hosts of PRO BLOCKCHAIN YouTube channel Maxim Burkov and Vyacheslav Nosko, and Anatoly Kaplan, the founder of ForkLog.

What Crypto-Content Creators Should Do About Blockings?

Maxim Burkov: After the first strikes, we’ve been looking to diversify and move away from total reliance on YouTube. I believe that all crypto-companies should consider diversifying.

We’ve been studying TikTok as a platform with a big audience. A lot of companies will be moving to TikTok, as today it’s the source of free traffic. Although, it requires a different approach to promotion and is less welcoming to “straight face” content.

We can’t move away from Google, YouTube, and Facebook entirely simply because of the traffic they give. We’re building our platform and if these large players decide to block us, we will still be able to make and post videos on our website. The good thing is that there are platforms that don’t care about the content you post. You just pay a monthly fee and they provide hosting.

Vyacheslav Nosko: I should point out that TikTok is still a centralized platform that is also based in China. If they will for some arbitrary reason decide to block certain content, it will be blocked.

Any centralized platform, however benevolent and fair it may look, can eventually change its views. We need something akin to the DeFi concept, but for content. There is open finance and there should be open content.

Is an Alternative to YouTube as a Social Media Platform Possible?

Anatoly Kaplan: We don’t have a viable alternative to centralized services yet. The problem is that all the protocols we use are centralized. Of course, we can build alternatives, but the question is when they will get traffic.

I believe that the right strategy is to continue using some centralized services and get as much value out of them as possible while simultaneously building a diversified infrastructure. The more decentralized and abuse-proof it will be, the better.

Notably, apart from companies resorting to blockings, there are government agencies tasked with essentially the same thing. Countries like Russia, Ukraine, and Germany have been involved in blocking certain websites and content. I think this trend will continue and countries will be moving their borders to the internet.

What Would Be the Ultimate Conclusion of the #ForkGoogle Initiative?

Anatoly Kaplan: It’s a matter of evolution. #ForkGoogle is a continuous process without a definite end. For now, we’ve conquered a symbolic space of the strategic opponent online and will work on doing the same for offline.

We’re planning to introduce step-by-step support to certain relevant projects and will gradually implement certain systems. We are going to add ForkLog’s information to IPFS and decentralize ForkLog Hub, which will be owned by the community. In addition, we will decrease our reliance on YouTube as a platform.

For now, we will act similarly to them: exploit centralized platforms like YouTube and Facebook, as well as Google services to get the audience and money.

Watch the full interview in Russian on the ForkLog Youtube channel.

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